-Jeff Pape
The photos above are of Jackson Pape, the owners son, before and after cleft lip surgery. The photos are about 15 months apart.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
Jeffrey Pape
WrestlingGear.Com, Ltd.
800-565-0995
Fax: 847-455-501
Jeffpape@wrestlinggear.com
http://www.wrestlinggear.com/
WRESTLINGGEAR.COM TO TURN JUMPS INTO SMILES
Franklin Park, IL - April 20, 2006 - WrestlingGear.Com, Ltd is working with The Smile Train to help kids with cleft lips. A cleft lip is a condition where the top of the lip does not form properly during pregnancy. A cleft lip can be corrected with surgery. WrestlingGear.Com is putting together a Jump-Rope-A-Thon to help raise money and awareness for cleft lips.
“We are looking forward to helping kids who were born with a cleft lip that might otherwise have to live with this fixable facial birth defect. With our National website we can help bring awareness about cleft lips and help raise money to help children who otherwise might not have their cleft lip fixed,” says Jeff Pape, owner of WrestlingGear.Com, whose son was born with a cleft lip.
WrestlingGear.Com is looking forward to working with wrestling club coaches and leaders and rewarding them with westling and non-wrestling related prizes for participating in the fund raiser. WrestlingGear.Com and its vendors have pledged the following prizes:
Grand Prize: $1,000 team makeover to be raffled off to those teams that raise $1,000 or more. Teams will receive raffle tickets for every $1,000 raised. The $1,000 can be used to purchase Matman wrestling uniforms. Matman wrestling is a Gold level sponsor for this event.
Other Prizes: The first 25 coaches who sign up their team and raise $500 will be given a $100 gift certificate to WrestlingGear.Com. Also, each wrestler that raises $50 will be given a free shipping coupon with WrestlingGear.Com. Brute, adidas wrestling, Championship Productions, First String Sales and Suples Bulgarian Dummies, will provide additional prizes that will be divided up to participating teams.
Each team can set their own date for the Jump-Rope-A-Thon, but are encouraged to hold all fundraisers in May or early June.
WrestlingGear.Com has designated the month of May as “Cleft Lip Month” and will be giving a portion of its sales during May to The Smile Train.
For more information, please contact WrestlingGear.Com’s owner, Jeff Pape, at 1-800-565-0995. A registration packet along with brochures, posters, and pledge forms will be sent to teams who wish to participate.
About WrestlingGear.Com:
WrestlingGear.Com, Ltd is one of the most visited wrestling websites in the country. Started in 1998, it now offers products from adidas, Asics, Brute, Championship Productions, Cliff Keen, Matman, Suples, Tanita and other major wrestling companies. Every year, more wrestlers “Get Ready for the Mat!” with WrestlingGear.Com.
About The Smile Train:
The Smile Train is a non-profit organization that provides services and programs in more than 60 countries - including the United States - has helped provide free surgery for thousands of children as well as free training and education for more than 15,000 surgeons and medical professionals. Additionally, The Smile Train is sponsoring major research projects that are searching for a way to prevent clefts. For more information visit: http://www.smiletrain.org
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For those of you that don’t know what a cleft lip is, it is as if someone took a knife or scissors and cut from the base of the lip to the nose on one or either side of the center of your mouth. What I never knew is part of your face under your nose is three separate pieces of skin that must form just right so they all come together at the right point and right time. I am amazed that anyones lips form properly after learning how they all need to come together.
There are several forms of cleft lips, where both sides don’t come together, only one side does not come together, and more serious forms like a cleft pallete and lip. During the ultrasound examinations they normally can’t tell 100% that the pallete has formed properly, but fortunately the doctor said it looked like only a small cleft lip on one side.
RESEARCH PROCESS
For me the internet is a blessing, its where we sell a majority of our wrestling gear. However, as a source for information, it can not be a blessing. We looked around on sites where there were photos of major cleft lips, before and after photos, photos of kids who did not have the surgery to correct their lips,etc. It was upsetting to look at these photos.
I was most concerned about the development of my unborn child. Often times there are hearing probelms, which lead to speech problems, and development issues.
Fortunately, when my son was born, it was only a minor one sided cleft lip and the inside of his mouth was intact. Everything with the surgery worked out perfectly. If you are a future parent of baby with a cleft lip, bookmark this blog, I will post more on this topic.
We will be doing some type of fundraiser to help kids whose parents can’t afford the cleft repair. Look back to find out more information on how you can help…
Cleft Lips are the most common form of facial birth defects in the country. The good news is they can be repaired and in many cases the birth defect is hardly noticed.
The reason I put something about Cleft Lips on this blog is my first son Jackson was born with a Cleft Lip. Luckily we live near a top notch hospital by the name of Children’s Memorial who completed the surgery. Today you can hardly notice Jackson’s Cleft Lip.
With that, I decided to put a link to the Smile Train. For a $250 donation, you can help a family get a Cleft Lip operation. This organization was recommended to me by my Doctor, so you can be rest assured that your money will be put to good use.
Follow this link: Smile Train to make a donation.
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